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I think building an identity is a big part of playing defense,” Flores said. “I try to impart that to our players. That happens over time. Every time we step on the practice field, it’s ‘What is our identity? What are people going to say about us? What do we want it to look like?’ ”
That might explain why the defense has been so aggressive going up against the offense. They are in the process of building an identity. That’s something that can’t be done at half speed.
“If we want to be a championship team, we have to practice like a championship team,” second-year safety Lewis Cine said. “To make it work, it takes buy in. We’ve got to pour everything we have into it. The fact that we’re starting early being aggressive will make it way easier.”
Though many of the conversations being had right now start and stop with Flores, he went out of his way earlier this week to mention other members of the coaching staff.
As far as Flores is concerned, everyone, including defensive line coach Chris Rumph, inside linebackers coach Mike Siravo, outside linebackers coach Mike Smith and defensive backs coach Daronte Jones, among a handful of others, have a voice in helping establish what things are going to look like moving forward.
“It’s been collaborative in a lot of ways,” Flores said. “I think they understand my nature as far as wanting to be aggressive but not reckless.”
That will come into focus throughout the preseason. In the meantime, Flores wants to keep stringing days together, learning more and more about his players, while trying to figure out what they do best.
“It’s hard to do that in this setting because so much of the game is physical,” Flores said. “We’re kind of forecasting based on what we’ve seen. That’s part of it too. We have to forecast. The final decisions of what we’re going to be are going to be made down the road.”
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I sure wish Jack Campbell was part of this.
Time will tell who actually can translate walk thru into brining it on game day...for 17 or more games.
Talk is cheap. Staying off the training table is payday.
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